Bridgestone M403 & M404 Tires for Intermediate Terrain

Usually I will use Bridgestone M403 front and M404 rear tire on my 2008 KTM 250 XCFW. These last, bite good, get good traction, and overall I can predict what they are going to do. In Oklahoma we ride a lot of sand, mud and hard pack with the occasional trip to Crossbar Ranch in Davis for some rocks. These tires are great for this stuff. I would exactly say these are good motocross track tires. They are ok on a track, but not great.

I took these tires to Colorado 3 times in years past. Each time they have come back shredded but made the trip ok. Last year, they were destroyed. Coming back from the last trail on the last day, they were toast. I wouldn’t have rode them another mile. The knobbies were hanging off by a thread. At this point the wasted tires made riding on the last dirt road very slippery and unpredictable.

This year I am doing something complete different. I am going to use the Bridgestone’s brother set of tires for hard to intermediate terrain… the Bridgestone M603 front and the Bridgestone M604 rear tire. I am going to put these tires on right before I go and document the results.

New Front Tire

New rear tire - tread close up

New Tires Installed

I installed these myself, and these tires put up a fight. I suggest wearing gloves, using Armor All for lubricant, and using no less than 3 tire irons and a bead buddy. These were no fun. I have changed a few tires in the past and watched several pros on YouTube videos. Yikes.

The trip went well. Had lots of fun. My bike jetting was way off, but still all in all, a great trip. So the wear and tear on these tires went like this…

Rear tire after 72 miles

Front tire after 72 miles

Day 1

72 miles – Union park, slaughter house trail, Cumberland pass, Tarzan mountain, Alpine tunnel, Hancock pass, st Elmos, tincup pass, mirror lake, tin cup, Taylor park.

Rear tire after 150 miles

Front tire after 150 miles

Day 2

78 miles – dirt roads, Mount Tipton trail, Aspen Ski Lodge, Taylor Road trail, dirt roads back to Taylor Park

Rear tire after 237 miles

Front tire after 237 miles

Day 3

87 miles – fossil ridge, McIntyre gulch, willow creek, Ohio city, pitkin, Cumberland pass, timberline, Taylor road.

Rear tire after 298 miles

Front tire after 298 miles

Day 4

61 miles – Taylor road, lily pond trail, Italian creek road, American flag mountain, dorchester trail, Taylor road, Texas creek

Pros:

After a total mileage of 298, I have to say I was impressed with these tires. They held up to some brutal terrain. The traction on these were amazing. Actually more traction than I was used to. We rode everything… single track, roads, mud, rocks, creeks, etc. These tires did extremely well in all of it. You can Google/YouTube any of the trails mentioned to see video footage of the terrain.

Cons:

I would say that the only place these tires probably wouldn’t do great is in a lot of deep mud. They were a little slippery at times in mud, but held great on wet roots. These tires may be a little heavier than motocross tires. They were also not easy to mount.

All in all I will consider these tires for next years trip.

For sale an ESP H-207 Seven String Guitar with Case, one owner used guitar, transparent green finish, Dimarzio Blaze Custom pickup installed in the bridge position, new wiring professionally installed this year by Honest Ron’s Guitar Shop. Great guitar, stays in tune like no other guitar I have owned. I have two of these and both are incredible in tone and playability. Asking $225.

• Body Type: Solid Body
• Scale Length: 25-1/2″
• Body Construction: Double cutaway
• Finish: Gloss
• Binding: White
• Carved Top: Yes
• Neck Shape: U-shaped neck
• Neck Joint: Bolt-on
• Neck Wood: Maple
• Fingerboard Material: Rosewood
• Fingerboard Inlays: Offset BlockS
• Number of Frets: 24
• String Nut: Syntetic Bone
• Tuners: ESP
• Bridge: Tune-O-Matic
• Bridge: String Through
• Hardware: Black
• Fret Size: Extra Jumbo
• Number of Pickups: 2
• Pickup Switch Type: 3-way Pickup Selector
• Bridge Pickup Type: Dimarzio Blaze Humbucker
• Neck Pickup Type: Duncan Designed Humbucker
• Controls: Volume & Tone

For sale 2008 KTM 250 4 stroke XCFW dirt bike with the Wide Gear Ratio transmission. I bought this bike brand new in late 2008. Never raced. This bike is super reliable and starts easy with electric start and kick starter. Tons of extras… House of Horsepower suspension, FMF Power Bomb Titanium full exhaust, Motosportz steering dampener, brembo brakes, hydraulic clutch, Excel rims, Bridgestone tires, Moose heavy duty tubes, Moose hand guards, JD Jet Kit, KTM power parts levers and seat, Skid plate, Oil Filter cover, chain guard. New top end by the KTM dealership done in August of 2011. Runs great. Asking $2,900.

This is my take-away points from the ECHO Conference session by Kem Meyer; Less Control More Influence

We all have to work with people. Even when everything is right, we still run into road blocks.

One major roadblock: Having the passion to see the idea through and getting the team to catch on. Frustration happens when people don’t “get it” and can’t grab the vision. This is not the real problem. The real problem is usually ourselves.

God has built in our own smoke alarm when things are out of sync. We need to “reboot” our lives. We are trying to lead change and gain credibility. We cannot do this when we are ungrounded. It’s our job to release the right response.

“Connecting to people across the spectrum requires us to stay connect to the needs and beliefs of those around us.” – Scott Belsky

Simple framework to push through a road block:

Control:

Aspects of control – Too little time. Too many answers. Too much self Importance. Left unchecked these get in the way.

Make some space:

• Clear your calendar intentional on a schedule. When you don’t have time to get everything done, then maybe God has you working on the right things. Make time to engage the people that are rubbing you the wrong way.
• Listening can be a disturbing experience. It can cause you to learn something about yourself. We can only control yourself. This is more an attitude than a skill. Get this mindset and this will help you listen. Ask “What will I learn from this?”
• Don’t focus on the outcome. Focus on the people and process. Each step will feel like a win along the way. It’s less about technique and more about attitude.

Man to Man vs. Zone Defense

• Responsibility makes us territorial of projects. We can push too hard when we are passionate. Zone protects a turf area, Man to Man allows a player to move. Be less concerned about defining the process, and more concern about defining the people.
• Personal conflict can get in the way – Personality differ. Learn about other people’s world views and vocabulary.
• The more we communicate, the less we communicate – Problem solving becomes less effective the more people you add. Use judgement to “act first, ask later” to get buy-in and trust. Look for the opportunity to make change, an open door, to getting things done you couldn’t before. Even an incremental trial period on an idea is good.
• Cohesiveness is the goal, not consistency.
• To maximize the response, minimize the options – Make complex things a two step process to simplify when something is lengthy.

Do the JFK:

• Ask yourself “What can I do for…” not what you can do for yourself. Think less about what you have to say, and more about how you can impact others. Check your ego at the door.
• As you remove things from a system, give something back. Example; We need you to proof read your work, AND we have a volunteer proofing team to help you.
• Sometimes we are more in love with the process, vs. the people working. What is the one sentence answer to how you would like people to feel about your work at the end of the day. (check some examples out at kemmeyer.com)

Proverbs 19:27 – Stop listening to instruction, my son, and you will stray from the words of knowledge.

Resources:

• Kem Meyer’s blog
• Check out the book: Less Clutter: Less Noise

This is my take-away points from the ECHO Conference session by Scott Belsky, Making Ideas Happen

Obstacles: Why Ideas Don’t Happen:

• Creativity can be a double-edge sword because we can get too many ideas. Some will never happen.
• New ideas have so much energy and excitement. Life soon catches up with us a the project plateaus. This becomes a merry-go-round of half-finished ideas.
• The gravitational force of operations also pulls you away from long-term creative pursuits.
• Organization can stifle forward movement.
• Lack of Accountability and Leadership capability.
• Lack of Feedback Exchange

Utilized Networks to Organize Resources:

• Equation for making ideas happen: Organization & Execution + Communal Forces + Leadership Capability

Organization:

• Overcome the reactionary workflow. We must force ourselves to find a place to think deeply. A window of non-stimulation.
• Organization is a competitive advantage in the creative world. Creativity x Organization = Impact. Apple is legendary for being organized even behind the scenes.
• What is the silver bullet? DIY seems to work the best for each individual. Individualizing  an organized process creates a system that gives you an advantage.

What was a common theme between companies and people making things happen?

1. Action steps, 2. Back-burners, 3. References.

• Meetings – Rethink meetings. These should have action items. Try a standing meeting. It keeps them short.
• Have a Culture of Capturing Action Items – Have every team member speak their action items. Capturing means writing it down.
• Create a Back-burner ritual – Keep a running list of back-burner items that you study on a weekly basis. Develop a routine for this.
• Surround Yourself with Progress – Productivity goes up when you surround yourself with progress. Track it and post it.
• Visualize Priorities – Rank your projects according to Energy Level. Some items do not need to be on high. Collaborate on these levels to establish communication, and come together on outcomes.
• Optimize – Everything you do. Make these things we do better. Build on your strengths. You try different methods to optimize your processes. Test out A vs B methods.

Communal Forces:

How do we utilize the people around us to do better?

• Share Ideas – Give away your creativity. The benefits outweigh everything else.
• Share Ownership of Ideas – This can help give other people ownership and have them help run with an idea.
• Seek Competition – This can drive you to act passionately on your ideas. It can speed your pace. Tune in to what other people are doing so you can move at the right speed.
• Fight Your Way to Breakthroughs – People who care will advocate for their opinion. It forces all sides to be explored. This usually ends in someone checks out. This blinds the team members. Battle down to the best solution. Don’t fight down to the lowest common denominator. Find 1 or 2 things that are important to the project… the sacred extremes. Fight for these.
• Overcome the Stigma of Self-Marketing – Be a respectful curator of what is interesting to your company. Care for the stream of information.

Leadership Capability:

What are leaders doing to keep their team engaged? Jack Welch would walk into a meeting and say… “Here is what I think we should do, what do you think?” This shuts down the team. Listen to the team first.

• Empowering the Hot Spots – Go to the people that have the most information. Often times this is not the leader or the most popular person. These people can be empowered.
• Value Your Team’s Immune System – In a creative team are the immune system. They keep the company healthy.
• Seek Restraints – Often times lack of restraints are devastating to the creative process. Restraints empower the creative process.
• Bureaucracy – Stewards of ideas should ask the hard questions to keep things moving.
• Pushing people into working in their overlap of… Interest, Skills, and Opportunity. As leaders we need to control this by giving opportunities that match when we can.
• Gain Confidence from Doubt – The more people doubt you and tell you “you are crazy,” you are either really crazy or you are on to something. Nothing extraordinary is ever achieved through ordinary means.
• See Yourself as Stewards of Your Ideas – Responsibility > Opportunity. See your creativity as a responsibility.

Ideas are greater than ourselves.

Resources:

• Chris Anderson’s blog
• Check out the Behance Network
• Check out Action Method
• Check out the99percent.com
• Read this book: Making Ideas Happen